Gun Stock Dent Removal

The information below describes and shows how to remove dents from a gun stock.
The gun used for this demonstration is a Turkish Model 1903 8mm Mauser Rifle made in 1940 with serial number 29147.
This gun is from Zane Wilson's Collection.

Note that if the stock is going to be cleaned using the methods described at Gun Stock Cleaining.,
virtually all minor dents in the wood are removed by these cleaning methods.

Materials Needed

Procedure

The dent in the wood (lower right) shown below will be removed.
Note that gouges in the wood (upper left) cannot be removed:

As shown below, lay the water saturated tip of a few layers of cloth on the dent and then apply the heated
Soldering Iron to the cloth for 3 to 5 seconds. This produces steam that is forced into the wood that causes
the wood fibers to swell and thus expand the compressed fibers thereby removing all or most of the dent.
It may be necessary to steam the dent in this manner 10 to 100 times. This particular sharp dent was steamed
approximately 100 times to remove as much of the dent that was possible.